Hello Hurricane

Or hello Tropical Storm Irene.

I lost power for just over 24 hours. There were a few scary bands of high winds. Lots of tree branches got knocked down. That was about it. Thankfully, there was no damage to my house or car. Just a large branch that fell down and lots of leaves and smaller branches. It was all cleaned up the day after the storm. My basement did not flood. My freezer gets high marks. After being off for 24 hours, the temperature was 28 degrees. Everything was still frozen. The fridge was a different story. It got up to 61 degrees, but I opened it a few times and there wasn’t much in the fridge anyway.

It could have been worse. Much worse.

And then there's Vermont. Poor beautiful Vermont. They are not used to dealing with tropical storms. You'd think a land-locked state would be OK, but not so. Vermont has mountains and many rivers and streams. Dump several inches of rain on a mountain and all the water rushes down. Just about every major road has washouts. Route 4 in Killington-Mendon? Three-lane road sections are completely gone. I've traveled on that road more times than I can count. Town of Killington? Isolated. The Quechee Covered Bridge? Yeah, I've been there. Had lunch several times at Simon Pearce overlooking the bridge and a waterfall. The bridge is hanging by a thread.

But Vermonters are hardy resourceful people. I bet they will be back up and running faster than anyone anticipates.